The cure for alcoholism?

While running his successful practice, French cardiologist Olivier Ameisen was severely stricken by an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy. He felt like imposter waiting to be unmasked and turned to large quantities of whisky and gin for relief.

He spent years in clinics for help with alcoholism without success until he heard of Baclofen, a muscle spasm medication that seemed to help people with addictions. Dr Ameisen began treating himself with daily doses of Baclofen and he found that "the first effects were a magical muscular relaxation and baby-like sleep". Almost immediately he also detected a lessening in his desire for drink. He increased his medication and found the he was able to abstain from alcohol and pronounced himself "cured".

Perhaps Dr Ameisen was wrong about Baclofen being a cure for alcoholism. It could be argued that Baclofen is a “treatment” and not a cure, because if he stopped taking his medication he probably would have reverted back to using alcohol in order to relax his body.

It’s a great pity Dr Ameisen didn’t discover “Regress to Cause” hypnotherapy. “Regress to Cause” hypnotherapy works to discover the true cause of a condition before treating it. Dr Ameisen might have discovered that his “feeling like an imposter waiting to be unmasked” was causing his anxiety and he may well have discovered why he felt this way. It’s clear that this feeling like an imposter was wrong though. He wasn’t an imposter as he had a successful practice, but feeling this way perhaps led to his anxiety which in turn may have led to physical tension in his body and the need for relief using a muscle relaxant.

Dr Ameisen might then have used hypnotherapy to bring his subconscious mind to the true realisation that he was not an imposter at all, but quite the opposite. He may well then have felt a sense of satisfaction at helping so many people with heart conditions. If he didn’t feel like an imposter, perhaps he wouldn't have had a reason to feel tense permanently. If he didn’t feel tense, perhaps he wouldn’t have needed relief from tension using alcohol or Baclofen? Perhaps then Dr Ameisen would have declared “Regress to Cause” hypnotherapy to be the cure for alcoholism?